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Asset and CI Alignment and Compliance Identifiers
Asset and CI alignment for the CIS-DF exam: model categories, synced fields, life cycle mapping, and tracking compliance identifiers on CSDM objects.
- 5 min
- Asset is the financial view, CI is the operational view; they align only where both exist.
- The model category names the asset class and the CI class and drives the link.
- Linked assets and CIs share synced fields; cost flows one way from asset to CI.
What it is
An asset and a configuration item (CI) often describe the same physical thing from two angles. The asset record tracks the financial and contractual side: cost, ownership, contracts and the life cycle from purchase to disposal. The CI tracks the operational side: configuration, relationships and the services that depend on it.
The second topic here is compliance context. Audits ask which applications handle regulated data, so security and regulatory identifiers have to be recorded on the CSDM object they really describe, not scattered across servers.
How it works
Assets versus CIs
| Asset | CI | |
|---|---|---|
| Answers | What do we own and what does it cost? | What is running and what depends on it? |
| Base table | alm_asset | cmdb_ci |
| Typical owner | Asset management | Configuration management |
| Exists without the other | Yes, for example a consumable with no configuration | Yes, for example an application service with no purchase |
Not every asset is a CI, and not every CI is an asset. Alignment applies only where both exist for the same item.
How the link works
The model category ties the two sides together. It names an asset class and a CI class. When a record is created on one side for a model whose category names both classes, the platform can create the matching record on the other side, and the two records reference each other.
Once linked, the platform keeps a set of fields in sync between asset and CI, for example asset tag, assigned user, company, location, model, serial number, vendor and warranty expiration. Cost flows one way, from asset to CI.
Synchronization only happens when the asset and CI are logically mapped and point to each other. A CI loaded with no model or an unmapped model category does not get a matching asset.
Life cycle alignment
The asset's State is aligned with the CI's Install Status, Hardware Status and substatus. The alignment is a logical mapping, not a one-to-one copy of values. Install Status is meant for non-hardware CIs; hardware CIs rely on Hardware Status.
The practical effect: when the asset moves through its life cycle, for example to retired, the linked CI's status follows, so the CMDB stops counting a disposed server as live.
Compliance identifiers on CSDM objects
Regulations such as PCI DSS, HIPAA or SOX usually apply to the business capability and the data, not to one server. Record the identifier on the CSDM object that matches the scope:
| What is in scope | Where to record it |
|---|---|
| The data itself, such as cardholder or personal data | Information object, cmdb_ci_information_object, with its data classification |
| The application portfolio entry that processes the data | Business application |
| The running deployment that must be audited | Application service, linked to the business application |
Both the information object and the business application sit in the Design and Planning domain of CSDM 5 (the domain was called Design in CSDM 4). The business application references the information objects for the data it handles, and the information object can be related to the database that stores that data.
Recorded once at the right level, the identifier reaches the infrastructure through relationships: from information object to business application, to application service, to the servers and databases below. Governance, risk and compliance tools can then use these CMDB records as the things controls apply to.
How the exam asks about this
- "Disposed laptops still appear as installed CIs." Check that assets and CIs are linked through the model category and that the asset's retired state maps to the CI's status.
- "Discovery creates servers but no assets appear." The model category for those models needs an asset class, and the CI must carry a model.
- "Auditors need every application that stores cardholder data." Classify the data on information objects and relate them to the business applications that use them.
What to remember for the exam
- Asset is the financial view, CI is the operational view; they align only where both exist.
- The model category names the asset class and the CI class and drives the link.
- Linked assets and CIs share synced fields; cost flows one way from asset to CI.
- Asset state maps logically to CI Install Status, Hardware Status and substatus.
- Record data classification on information objects and regulatory scope on business applications and application services.
- Information objects and business applications are in the Design and Planning domain.
Tagging individual servers with a regulation is the trap answer. The scope belongs to the data and the application; servers inherit it through relationships, and a server tag goes stale the first time a workload moves.
Common mistakes
Treating asset and CI as the same record. They are separate records on separate tables, linked by reference. Changing one updates the other only for the synced fields.
Loading CIs without models. With no model, there is no model category, so no asset is created and no fields sync. The financial view stays empty.
Recording compliance on the wrong object. A business application flag says the portfolio entry is in scope; an information object says which data is regulated. Use both for what they mean instead of a custom field on every CI.
Check yourself
What links an asset class to a CI class?
The model category, which names both the asset class and the CI class for its models.
Which life cycle fields on the CI align with the asset's State?
Install Status, Hardware Status and substatus, through a logical mapping rather than a one-to-one copy.
Where should the classification of personal or cardholder data be recorded?
On the information object that represents the data, related to the business applications that use it, so the scope reaches the infrastructure through relationships.
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